


Rebuilt

by ladygray99



Series: Rescue Me [4]
Category: Numb3rs (TV)
Genre: Community: numb3rs100, Drabble Sequence, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-31
Updated: 2020-07-30
Packaged: 2021-03-05 18:52:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 1,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25620118
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ladygray99/pseuds/ladygray99
Summary: Don has crawled up the academic ladder and into the next phase of his life.
Relationships: Don Eppes/Larry Fleinhardt
Series: Rescue Me [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/6515
Comments: 12
Kudos: 20





	1. The Committee (387 Doctor)

**Author's Note:**

> This is the first anything I’ve written since I honestly don’t know when. 2020 is such a trash heap. Remember when we thought 2016 was the worst? Anyways I hope you all are well.
> 
>  **Beta:** none (and I’m so tired)

Don wiped the sweat from his palms but that didn’t stop the faint tremor in his hands. He could feel his pulse. It pounded in his ears and turned the chronic dull ache in his knee to a painful throb. He wanted to be sick but he’d done that already. Now all that was left was the waiting.

Larry took his still sweating hand and gave it a squeeze. 

Don closed his eyes and tried to breathe, focusing on thoughts of warm nothingness. 

Then his committee head opened the door and smiled at him. “Doctor Eppes, please come back in.”


	2. Doctor Eppes (471 Bother)

Charlie held out his hand. It was weird seeing him here. Charlie had never actually been in the house he and Larry had rebuilt. Don took the offered hand.

“Doctor Eppes,” Charlie said with a smile.

“Doctor Eppes,” Don repeated, unable to help himself.

“Never thought I'd be saying that to you.” Don shrugged but Charlie was still smiling. “What are your plans now?”

“CalSci for a few semesters. Teachers with tenure don’t like covering Basic Astronomy and the Galaxy or The Evolving Universe.”

“I can understand that.” 

“And apparently I put the fear of god into freshmen.” 

Charlie laughed.


	3. Leaving Insurance (138 Reunion)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All those years, 496 prompts, how was theory never a prompt word? I was sure it was a prompt word.

“Doctor Eppes!” Nikki’s arms were thrown wide, the party was in full swing. 

“Representative Betancourt.” 

Nikki pulled him into a hug. “You actually did it. So, are you getting stars or comets or anything named after you?”

“Well the theory that rogue stars or really tiny blackholes can get too close to each other and rip apart solar systems, but stay far enough apart not to crash into each other is probably getting named after me.”

“Like getting the mirror knocked off your car when you park to get a quick coffee.”

“And stellar objects never leave their insurance information.”


	4. A Question (384 Associate)

Don sunk into his couch. His leg hurt and he was unused to socializing like this anymore. Charlie, Amita, and the niblings had left first since it was a school night. The CalSci crew had spilled out next for much the same reason. The FBI contingent that had slowly reached out and reconnected over the years had hung on until last, possibly to convince themselves they weren’t as old as they knew they were.

Larry sat beside him and took his hand. “We’ll have to rearrange the wall again.”

Larry had insisted on framing and hanging every symbol of Don’s academic progression from his community college associate degree right on up.

“I guess I’ll have to do another graduation ceremony.” If he counted his pre-FBI life plus Quantico that would make seven times he’d sat and waited for an old man to hand him a piece of paper saying he could follow instructions and think. He tilted sideways until he was against Larry’s shoulder.

“I was wondering, if you’d be up for one more ceremony after receiving your diploma?”

“Is there some super doctorate I don’t know about, because no. This one nearly killed me.” 

“Would you consider getting married?”


	5. Considerations (345 Spouse)

Don did not answer or even look at Larry because he couldn't be sure he’d heard that right?

“What?”

“Would you consider, since-“ There was a sudden hesitation and waver in Larry’s voice. “I had hoped-”

“Shhhh.” Don cut him off. He needed to think. His brain felt fried after the day. Had Larry really just asked him..? Out of the blue. But was it out of the blue? Don tried to think back. It had been so long, more than a decade, since Larry had raised him off his own floor. It felt like a lifetime. 

How long, Don wondered, had Larry been thinking about this. True spontaneity was rare in Larry, and Don had learned long ago that Larry was never spontaneous when it came to him; them. He wouldn’t risk it. That was one of the things Don loved about him.

Love.

He had taught himself to love the heavens precisely because they didn’t. Balls of gas, rock, and ice with no motivation that existed long before Don was born and would continue long after he was gone.

Larry’s hand was still in his, warm, alive, and so very present. A personal source of gravity. 

“Okay. Yes.”


	6. Early Morning Lectures (2 Starting Over)

Don looked over the sea of painfully young faces as he rubbed the wedding band on his finger, still growing accustomed to its weight and presence. Most were still rubbing the sleep from their eyes. Another reason CalSci was willing to create a whole position for him, most professors hated 8 a.m. lectures as much as the students. Don was still an early riser. 

“Good morning.” He dropped a stack of papers on the desk of a particularly tired looking student. He’d never managed to go fully digital. “Welcome to Astrophysics 1: The Evolving Universe. Let me start by saying I do not care if this is your major or if you are just taking it for core curriculum. You are CalSci students and we have not yet reached rocket science so I will not accept slacking. Yes this is an easy A class but you still have to earn it. Am I clear?”

There were sleepy mumbles. It had been a long time since he’d heard the crisp ‘Yes, sir’ of a line of FBI recruits. 

Don knocked his antique walking stick on the table once. The sound reverberated and all eyes snapped to him. “Let’s get the rumors out of the way before we get into the year. Yes, I am related to Doctor Eppes over in Math. Don’t try to get him to petition grade changes on your behalf, it will not work. Yes, I am married to Doctor Fleinhardt. Again, your grades are your problem. As for the rest,” Don locked eyes with a student who had swanned in a minute late but still exuding ego. “I have looked death in the eyes and death blinked first. Don’t try to pull shit on me.”

He turned on the projector.

“And now, welcome to the cosmos.”


End file.
